The deputy director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) has confirmed new foreign-invested enterprises have continuously grown in the past three years, since the business system reform.

Ma Zhengqi said, at a press conference on April 28, 2017, the growth rate of foreign-invested enterprises had almost tripled since 2014, jumping from 5.8 percent three years ago to 13.9 percent in 2016.

The annual growth rate for newly established foreign invested enterprises, however, has scaled in the opposite direction, plummeting from minus 11.1 percent in 2012 to minus 2.8 percent in 2013.

The newly registered capital of foreign enterprises also reached $382.27 billion in 2016, having a 47.5 percent increase each year.

Ma confirmed, from 2013 to 2016, there were 13 million new private enterprises registered in China, equating to 4.33 million registered on an annual basis. He said the figure was up 86.3 percent, compared to 2013.

Ma added the number of new private enterprises, in the past three years, made up 94.6 percent of the total amount of new enterprises. The rapid growth of privately operated enterprises also created a range of jobs, boosting the employment market in China. More than 78.4 million jobs have been offered, and created, by private enterprises in the past three years, employing 26.15 million people each year. The amount represented an increase of 61.2 percent since 2013.